News Topic: Policymaking

Readers weigh in on the departure of Richard Cordray, debate whether online lenders are akin to subprime lenders, offer praise of a community banker, and more. ... Read full article

Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget director, is being considered for interim director of the consumer watchdog after Richard Cordray steps down and until a permanent pick is confirmed. ... Read full article

The Federal Housing Administration was battered by losses this year from reverse mortgages, casting doubt on whether the agency will adopt an Obama-era proposal to reduce mortgage insurance premiums. ... Read full article

Evidence that the credit characteristics of online installment borrowers at the time of repayment are consistently worse than at the time of borrowing should be a sobering thought for lenders that have not been fully tested in a credit downturn. ... Read full article

The announcement by the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ends months of speculation about how long he planned to stay at the agency. ... Read full article

Banks and their regulators quickly got back up to speed in markets hit hard by recent hurricanes, in part due to the lessons learned by Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, a panel of regulators said Tuesday. ... Read full article

While the Bank of America chief says he is encouraged by progress on tax reform, he cautioned that it remains politically and fiscally tough to accomplish, and that the wrong moves on immigration could offset some of the gains from tax cuts. ... Read full article

The battle lines are drawn between those seeking to protect the mortgage interest deduction and a legislative effort to greatly reduce its use. Hopefully, this is a battle that taxpayers will win. ... Read full article

Here's a look at the 12 housing markets with the largest percentages of mortgages over $500,000 — the new threshold House Republicans have proposed for the mortgage interest deduction in their tax plan. ... Read full article

Wall Street and its allies in the House are trying to kill the Consolidated Audit Trail, a supercomputer that will allow regulators to detect market abuses, punish wrongdoers and better understand why markets sometimes crash. ... Read full article

With marijuana sales set to become legal in California soon, a working group there says that a state-backed financial institution should be among the measures weighed to address the lack of banking services available to the pot industry. ... Read full article

The financial services industry has largely warmly greeted the GOP’s proposed overhaul of tax policy, yet some provisions have triggered concern and uncertainty. Here is a rundown of the key provisions and how they may impact the industry. ... Read full article

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley is close to announcing his retirement, CNBC reported, citing several people familiar with his plans. ... Read full article

A House Republican tax proposal that infuriated housing groups and sent homebuilder stocks sliding would only have a modest impact on the market for new homes and could end up being a net positive for the industry, according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods ... Read full article

The Federal Housing Finance Agency must set fees equal to the cost of capital that private banks hold against similar risk, not just the amount of capital that Fannie and Freddie think are right for themselves. ... Read full article

Hopes that tax reform might soften a weakening of the mortgage interest deduction were quickly dashed as the GOP plan landed a double punch on the incentive cherished by the mortgage and housing industries. ... Read full article

Call-report data on commercial and industrial loans does not fully capture small-business lending by smaller institutions, a recent FDIC survey suggests. ... Read full article

In a somewhat surprising decision, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling announced his retirement from Congress on Tuesday, but speculation immediately grew that he could fill a regulatory post. ... Read full article